Foreword

This guide assumes you are somewhat familiar with Malzahar as a champion. If you are not please click here and read up on him. This saves a lot of time for me and you both and it is to your benefit. Also on the base stats, add 200 to health and mana as well as 20 to AP; Mobafire does not include the Rod of Ages bonus over time. It also does not include various other things in the mastery page to my knowledge. The AP actually goes quite a deal higher then what it says. Don't forget to thumbs up as well :D

Introduction

This is a guide of how to play and do very well as Malzahar. This is my favorite champion and the second one I had ever bought. I hope you enjoy him just as much. Now about me: my summoner name is LeWump, I am level 30 and I can play every role and do fairly well. I am silver and have fought hard to get there. If I know I would like to win I just call mid lane and pick Malzahar. He is my go to champ and I'll show you why. (Remember to check the notes next to the items to see why I picked them, along with the notes on your moves. These are all to your benefit to read! And please Vote up if his guide has helped you, it helps me know if people are doing well with this build!)

Summoner Spells

i always take Flash and Ignite, Flash because of the escapes and Ignite to secure a kill with Malefic Visions and other moves. these are must haves in my opinion, but it is always the player preference, so do what you will.

Pros / Cons

[Pro's]A very good mid laneAP NukerPassive allows for AD damage as wellNo limit on how many voidlings you can have outSelf sustaining mana if you know how to farmBadass filled with the void[Con's]No escapesVery BurstyHas very large mana costsGets mana hungry after long periods of time (prolonged by Rod of Ages)

Getting to know Malzahar

Malzahar is an AP caster who primarily goes mid. All his abilities scale very well into late game and you can focus down any target in a proper team fight. His laning phase is semi-weak compared to other champions. Because of his high costing moves you mostly only want to spam Malefic Visions onto minions so they will die with it and transfer onto the nearest available enemy unit. Fully leveled this returns 26 mana for each time it kills a minion and goes onto a new one. This is also your harass because of Summon Voidling. Because Malzahar is not very popular many do not know how much damage a voidling cam do to them. In laning phase it is key to use voidlings to your advantage. Until level 6 they can do more damage than all your abilities. This also allows you to farm without being over extended considering the voidling is attracted to those with Malefic Visions on them. In order to counteract his high mana costs you farm with your Malefic Visions and you also do not want to build very much CDR. This rule applys at all times unless you have a blue buff. But in order to expect this buff you will want to leash your jungler in the very beginning. Here do not be afraid to use Malefic Visions. This will build up counters for a voidling and help you in lane.

Leveling

As you level you get more and more ability to nuke the enemy. Very few in the game (tanks included) can survive Malzahar's Full combo of moves. It will destroy enemy carries and render them useless in a matter of seconds. This allows for you to have full control of your lane so long as you do not feed them and they do not wander and get kills in other lanes. (Even if they do you can still kill them and take their bounty anyway :D) I personally have had an enemy jungler gank into my lane, and then i killed the enemy laner and the jungler in the same time span. After that the jungler would only poke me and never try to go into the kill if they have any doubt. Use this fact to your advantage, fear is a useful tool, but never ever be arrogant. That will make you pay dearly.

Moves

I will give you a quick rundown of Malzahar combination. First you want to put your Null Zone beneath the enemy laner. Then you want to use Call of the Void to do more damage and to silence them. Then what you want to do is use your Nether Grasp while they are on the Null Zone. This allows Maximum damage and if the enemy appears to have a chance of living, then you can (if in range) ignite them and use Deathfire Grasp on them. Note if you are not in range then trying to use the items and abilities will disrupt your ult. Finally if needed use your Malefic Visions to kill them. If you land this combo then even the enemy tank can and/or will die. This will do over 2600, and that's not factoring in the extra 12% of their health from Null Zone and the bonus damage from voidlings. Nor is this taking into account the damage of the Deathfire Grasp or Ignite. So as you can very well see, you are going to do well over 3500 damage to the enemy.

Farming

Getting creepwaves is a very easy process for Malzahar. With his Malefic Visions you can have minions in the enemy base dying from you while you are in your own base. In the beginning of the game it will not be as effective because it is not that strong, but as you power level it, you can do more damage with it then your ult at level 10! This allows you to clear creep very quickly, especially if you have a voidling up. The voidling is attracted to those with the Malefic Visions on them unless you are using your ultimate on someone. This will let you outrange your enemy and out CS them quickly.

Team Work

In team-fights you have one mission: kill the enemy dealing the most damage quickly. With the moves in your arsenal you can achieve this almost every team-fight as long as you can survive a total of 5 seconds. The first two seconds are to get to your target and then to cast Call of the Void and then Null Zone on them. The next two and a half seconds are to then use Nether Grasp. This will do over 1000 damage to them and will also suppress them after you had already silenced them with Call of the Void. If for some ungodly reason they survive this you can put your Ignite and Malefic Visions them, and if you took deathfire grasp that as well assuming the health is enough to have a chance of surviving the first two DoT's. After your target was killed you will then get the second most damage dealing target or whoever your team may be focusing next. But if you have people on your team with throws or grabs be sure to warn them of disrupting your ult. They can be knocked up as without interruption, but moving or stunning you will disrupt it. If your opponent has bought a Quicksilver Sash or has another debuff remover the enemy can walk around while your ult hits them. This is becasue it only removes the supress, not the ult hitting them.

Summary

Really as playing Malzahar you have to realize a few things. First off that you; as the APC, will most likely be the second target in a teamfight right after the ADC. This is why you get Malzahar so tanky. With it you can survive longer and do more damage in the fight which will make all the difference. The second thing you need to know is that if you do well enough in your mid-lane, people will come to gank you and if you have not been following your mid-laner obligations, you can die very easily. Lets say you are laning against an Akali in mid. And your bot lane didn't call a Taric. Then he wanders up into your bush and you push your lane. He then runs up to you and stuns you while they both do damage and then kill you. That is not what we want. A similar situation can arise with a jungler. If you die and let your mid-tower fall, no amount of complaining to your teamates will make it come back. So be pro-active and ward your lane. And third off you always need to remember that when you dance, your voidlings dance with you. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or changes please let me know.

Notes on Items and Moves

I'm adding this section simply because some people use their mobile device to view Mobafire. And with them on a mobile device they cannot see the notes like you would on a computer. So this is for whoever may need the notes :)

Masteries
Masteries and runes are a great tool to gain an edge on your opponent. There is only so many combinations in the runes and masteries, and some combos are just taboo. But this is pretty standard, it lets you get the best of both offense and defense.

Runes
Personally i feel that getting too much flat armor and magic resist is pointless. At mid-late game it becomes obsolete. And by level 9 they do more than the flat runes do anyway. This is just so you scale into the late game better and so all your health is backed by a little more beef.

Mid-Laner Obligations
You, as a mid laner or any other laner should buy wards. This is true for everyone but the AD carry. I do not care how good you may be, but if you are not warded then you can easily die. Especially if you are playing a champ who's only escape is killing the enemy or flashing away (aka Malzahar).

Starting Items
Honestly here you can go with a Doran's Ring. The pots are interchangeable, but with Malzahar's E, its basically its own Doran's Ring giving 10 or more mana every time it moves targets and the boots go into your core build. The red-blue pot ratio will depend on how you are at dodging skill shots.

Core
By the first time you go back you should be able to get a Catalyst the Protector or both the components to it. This goes straight into the Rod of Ages and will help you sustain in lane longer. This also gives you a very nice scale into the mid game every minute that goes by. Then you get your boots for the penetration and the biggest AP item in the game; Rabadon's Deathcap. I have been completely under-leveled and underfed but when I came into a battle with these core items I completely nuked the enemy AP carry. This core will help you survive and then thrive.

Mid-Late Game
Now here is where people question me, why would i get these two items on Malzahar? Well as with the Rod of Ages, these help you survive by giving you more health and more AP. With these items you get over 3000 health. And you sacrifice very little AP doing so. Not to mention these two items sync very well together with more DoT and slowing the enemies. The enchantments are for you to decide depending on whether you are on the offensive or defensive.

Late Game Options
Now here is where the build had some flexibility. With each of these items you become an even more dangerous champion on the fields of justice. With a Guardian Angel the enemy team needs to kill you twice and by the time your up many of your spells may be off of cooldown which means you can kill them easily. The Deathfire Grasp allows more AP and with its active of even more DoT you can bring most of the enemy carries down to or below half health with your own DoT and ignite. It allows for all of your abilities to become more damaging and more dangerous. Finally there is Zhonya's Hourglass. This is the one I would choose when you are more comfortable with Malzahar and the game in general. This gives you armor and AP in one neat bundle. But the difference is the active of this item. When timed correctly you are put in a stasis being untargetable and invincible for 2 seconds. And in the middle of a teamfight that can save you. Personally, I like to take Zhonya's Hourglass the most.

After Full Build
Oh no! Now i have full build and nothing to spend money on! Solution! These nifty pots help out at late game when you have nothing else to buy. Really i don't think an explanation is needed. Another way to help you build out is to sell any item on cooldown and completely rebuy it; refreshing the item. But other then that, congrats on getting full build :D

Abilities
For the first ability taken this is assuming you are not invading. If your are invading then take your Call of the Void! Malefic Visions is Malzahar farming tool and sustaining tool. His Call of the Void allows for whole team silences and massive damage as the game progresses. But with the silence you can catch the enemy off guard and get a kill off of them right in the beginning. Also remember you can time your combo's to get a voidling out for more damage.

Aram

I personally love this game type, it lets you try out new champs and get a better understanding of the game. I used this exact build in aram and i did very well. So this show's the versatility ofthis buld and how you can thrive no matter what with it. Game on!

Thoughts on Changes

THOUGHT- Thinking of trying out the Hextech Gunblade. The spell vamp in theory could help very much with sustaining, maybe right after the Sorcerer's Shoes. And the damage bonus would not go to waste because of the Voidlings. Will update on testing when I can.

UPDATE- While the spell vamp helps a lot, the lifesteal from a voidling does not heal yourself. So if needed you could use a Will of the Ancients instead of the Liandry's Torment. While ulting you would gain very much health.

Ranked Play

I have now used this in ranked, and i can say that it works perfectly fine. To any who are nervous about ranked, don't be. It's just like any other game, though i do caution you in your pick order. Malzahar can be countered easily, so i suggest mastering him (or any champ for that matter) before doing ranked.

Other fun mids

This is just to give a little direction to those who are having trouble decide on another mid champ to play:

Syndra- high skill cap but very versatile and very rare to see good players for this champ

Fizz- very good mid laner, very slippery and can 100% to 0% champs very easily

Veigar- helps to learn last hitting creeps, and can destroy anybody in the game the longer the game goes on (good bonus ap on his q is 50AP/10 minutes of the game)

Future Builds

I will admit, i am no longer a die hard malz player, i have moved onto other champs. He is still a very good laner, but is not the best for a team. I plan on making builds for my new favorite mid lane Syndra and top lane of Rumble. In these guides i will go on to specificly tell you how to play and build to be successful as those champs. When i have them complete i will post links here.

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